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Fairbank train robbery
The Fairbank train robbery occurred on the night of February 15, 1900, when some bandits attempted to hold up a Wells Fargo express car at the town of Fairbank, Arizona. Although it was thwarted by Jeff Milton, who managed to kill "Three Fingered Jack" Dunlop in an exchange of gunfire, the train robbery was unique for being one of the few to have occurred in a public place and was also one of the last during the Old West period.
In the 1890s, Burt Alvord and his partner in crime, Billy Stiles, were serving as deputy sheriffs in Willcox. Law enforcement paid little, though, so they began robbing trains belonging to the Southern Pacific Railroad. For a while they managed to be successful and went undetected by their fellow lawmen.
According to James H. McClintock, train robbery was popular in Arizona at the time, which was exemplified by the passing of a statute in 1889 that made it punishable by death. However, the law was never enforced and several train robberies occurred between 1889 and 1899. One of the most daring, according to McClintock, was the Cochise Train Robbery. On September 9, 1899, Alvord's gang robbed a train as it was stopped at the town of Cochise. There they forced the staff off at gunpoint and then blew up the safe with dynamite. After taking several thousand dollars in gold coins and bills, the gang rode into the Chiricahua Mountains, unsuccessfully pursued by a posse under Sheriff Scott White and George Scarborough.
Like at Fairbank, the Cochise robbery took place in public as well, although it was nearly midnight and there was no gunfight. According to the Historical Atlas of the Outlaw West, by Richard M. Patterson: "Most Western train robberies occurred on a lonely stretch of track, usually far enough outside the nearest town to give the robbers plenty of time to raid the express car or the passenger coaches and disappear over the nearest ridge." Alvord and Stiles must have thought it was easier to rob a train in town than in the middle of nowhere so they came up with a plan to hold up a Wells Fargo express car as it was stopped in front of the train station in Fairbank. The express car, Alvord hoped, would be carrying the United States Army's payroll for the soldiers stationed at Fort Huachuca. Also, the crowd of people that was sure to be gathered at the station would provide the bandits with human shields.
The train was traveling from Nogales to Benson, but it had to stop at the little town of Fairbank, located a few miles west of Tombstone, to offload some cargo. Alvord and Stiles knew that Jeff Milton was working for Southern Pacific as an express messenger so they made arrangements to have five men rob the train on a night that he was not supposed to be working. In the meantime, Alvord and Stiles would maintain their guise as honorable deputies.
The night chosen for the robbery was February 15, 1900, and the five bandits were Bob Brown, or Burns, "Bravo Juan" Tom Yoas, the brothers George and Louis Owens, and "Three Fingered Jack" Dunlop. When they arrived in town, the bandits dismounted and blended in with the crowd, pretending to be drunken cowboys.
At this point there are some conflicting accounts, although there are only slight variations. According to Bill O'Neal's Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters, as the train approached Fairbank Jeff Milton was standing at the open door of the express car when the bandits opened fire on him from the station and wounded him. However, according to Robert M. Patterson, the train came to a full stop before the bandits made their approach and one of them shouted "Hands up!" to Milton before the shooting started.
According to Patterson's version, at first Milton thought that the call to surrender was a joke, but, when the bandits called out a second time and shot off his hat, he quickly reassessed the situation. Milton was substituting for a friend at the time of the robbery and otherwise would not have been on the train. He had left his revolver on his desk inside the car, but his sawed-off shotgun was next to the door and within reach. Milton hesitated though because using his shotgun would put innocent bystanders at risk. So when the bandits decided to open fire again one of their first shots struck Milton in the left shoulder. Milton then fell to the floor badly wounded, but he managed to grab his shotgun just in time to use it on Dunlop, who was trying to enter the car. Eleven pellets struck Dunlop somewhere in his body and a final pellet hit Yoas in the upper leg or behind.
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Fairbank train robbery
The Fairbank train robbery occurred on the night of February 15, 1900, when some bandits attempted to hold up a Wells Fargo express car at the town of Fairbank, Arizona. Although it was thwarted by Jeff Milton, who managed to kill "Three Fingered Jack" Dunlop in an exchange of gunfire, the train robbery was unique for being one of the few to have occurred in a public place and was also one of the last during the Old West period.
In the 1890s, Burt Alvord and his partner in crime, Billy Stiles, were serving as deputy sheriffs in Willcox. Law enforcement paid little, though, so they began robbing trains belonging to the Southern Pacific Railroad. For a while they managed to be successful and went undetected by their fellow lawmen.
According to James H. McClintock, train robbery was popular in Arizona at the time, which was exemplified by the passing of a statute in 1889 that made it punishable by death. However, the law was never enforced and several train robberies occurred between 1889 and 1899. One of the most daring, according to McClintock, was the Cochise Train Robbery. On September 9, 1899, Alvord's gang robbed a train as it was stopped at the town of Cochise. There they forced the staff off at gunpoint and then blew up the safe with dynamite. After taking several thousand dollars in gold coins and bills, the gang rode into the Chiricahua Mountains, unsuccessfully pursued by a posse under Sheriff Scott White and George Scarborough.
Like at Fairbank, the Cochise robbery took place in public as well, although it was nearly midnight and there was no gunfight. According to the Historical Atlas of the Outlaw West, by Richard M. Patterson: "Most Western train robberies occurred on a lonely stretch of track, usually far enough outside the nearest town to give the robbers plenty of time to raid the express car or the passenger coaches and disappear over the nearest ridge." Alvord and Stiles must have thought it was easier to rob a train in town than in the middle of nowhere so they came up with a plan to hold up a Wells Fargo express car as it was stopped in front of the train station in Fairbank. The express car, Alvord hoped, would be carrying the United States Army's payroll for the soldiers stationed at Fort Huachuca. Also, the crowd of people that was sure to be gathered at the station would provide the bandits with human shields.
The train was traveling from Nogales to Benson, but it had to stop at the little town of Fairbank, located a few miles west of Tombstone, to offload some cargo. Alvord and Stiles knew that Jeff Milton was working for Southern Pacific as an express messenger so they made arrangements to have five men rob the train on a night that he was not supposed to be working. In the meantime, Alvord and Stiles would maintain their guise as honorable deputies.
The night chosen for the robbery was February 15, 1900, and the five bandits were Bob Brown, or Burns, "Bravo Juan" Tom Yoas, the brothers George and Louis Owens, and "Three Fingered Jack" Dunlop. When they arrived in town, the bandits dismounted and blended in with the crowd, pretending to be drunken cowboys.
At this point there are some conflicting accounts, although there are only slight variations. According to Bill O'Neal's Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters, as the train approached Fairbank Jeff Milton was standing at the open door of the express car when the bandits opened fire on him from the station and wounded him. However, according to Robert M. Patterson, the train came to a full stop before the bandits made their approach and one of them shouted "Hands up!" to Milton before the shooting started.
According to Patterson's version, at first Milton thought that the call to surrender was a joke, but, when the bandits called out a second time and shot off his hat, he quickly reassessed the situation. Milton was substituting for a friend at the time of the robbery and otherwise would not have been on the train. He had left his revolver on his desk inside the car, but his sawed-off shotgun was next to the door and within reach. Milton hesitated though because using his shotgun would put innocent bystanders at risk. So when the bandits decided to open fire again one of their first shots struck Milton in the left shoulder. Milton then fell to the floor badly wounded, but he managed to grab his shotgun just in time to use it on Dunlop, who was trying to enter the car. Eleven pellets struck Dunlop somewhere in his body and a final pellet hit Yoas in the upper leg or behind.